Hi, addressing my issue first: I am a total newbie in replacing PC components and I found that opening my laptop is really complex process (compared to other brands), if someone could post a tutorial in replacing the thermal paste for this particular laptop model, I would be really grateful.
If you are willing to help, here is what happened. I bought this laptop about 1 and a half year ago and it started heating up after 4 months of use (80-90 i.e."uncomfortably hot"). Since I was still in warranty, I sent it back to Acer and they said they replaced the whole thermal unit (I assume fans/paste/heatpipes etc). Now my warranty is expired and my laptop is hitting 100-105 degrees Celsius (on realtemp and XTU), is heavily throttling and is burning hot to touch (can't touch for more than 2 seconds). I tried undervolting (-0.110V for a i7 7700HQ) based off of Dave2D (youtuber) suggestion. It reduced temp by 5-10 degrees but is still very hot.
I now think that re-pasting my laptop is the only option I have left and I am very scared/nervous to do so without a detailed tutorial for this specific model as I do not want to snap/short/mess up/break anything. I am thinking of buying the $10 arctic silver 5 pack which includes cleaning solutions and using cotton earbuds to rub the existing paste out. Is this the best paste out there? I'm willing to spend an extra $10 if there is something better.
I would be grateful if someone could help me out and guide me with a video tutorial for this operation. PLEASE HELP!!
CPU: 7th gen i7 7700HQ
GPU: GTX 1060